Ithala Game Reserve, Nature reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Ithala Game Reserve is a protected area in KwaZulu-Natal that covers diverse landscapes, ranging from valleys at 400 meters to elevated mountainous regions in the Ngotshe range. The terrain supports varied ecosystems and wildlife that visitors encounter through different exploration methods.
Archaeological evidence shows human occupation spanning hundreds of thousands of years, with Middle Stone Age tools about 200,000 years old and Later Stone Age spear and axe heads around 20,000 years old. In 1884 the Boers who helped Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo defeat Zibhebhu kaMapitha at the Battle of Tshaneni received some 1,355,000 morgen of northern Zululand, and the Nieuwe Republiek was proclaimed on 5 August 1884 with Vryheid as capital. In 1973 the Natal Parks Board bought farms to create the reserve.
Archaeological discoveries in the reserve include stone tools dating back 20,000 years and iron smelting sites near banded ironstone deposits.
The reserve lies about 70 km east of Vryheid and 400 km north of Durban, with the Pongola River forming its northern boundary. Ntshondwe Camp sits below the Ngotshe escarpment, whose sandstone and dolerite cliffs are visible from the camp. Rain falls mainly from October to April; May to September brings warm days, cold nights and frost on the high plateau.
The banded ironstone in the reserve was mined and crushed by Iron Age inhabitants, who smelted the ore in clay furnaces fired with wild olive wood to make spear tips. The Ngotshe cliffs above Ntshondwe Camp show horizontal bands of pink and russet sandstone cut by vertical dolerite spires.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 93,010 contributors worldwide.
